Clinical outcomes of implant-supported monolithic zirconia crowns and fixed partial dentures: A systematic review.

PURPOSE: To determine the survival rates of implant-supported monolithic zirconia crowns and fixed partial dentures (FPD). MATERIAL AND METHODS: An electronic search for articles in the English language literature published from January 1, 2001 to September 17, 2021 was performed using PubMed, Scopus, and CENTRAL search engines. After applying predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria, the definitive list of selected articles was used for calculating the interval survival rate (ISR) and cumulative survival rate (CSR). Restoration failure in this study was defined as the fracture or compromise of any part of the ceramic restoration that required the removal or remake of the implant-supported restoration. RESULTS: The electronic search resulted in 457 titles. The systematic application of inclusion and exclusion criteria resulted in 14 clinical studies that addressed the clinical outcomes of implant-supported monolithic zirconia crowns and fixed partial dentures. Of these, 3 were randomized controlled trials, 5 were prospective studies, and 6 were retrospective studies. Follow-up periods ranged from 1 to 5 years. Of the 644 implant-supported monolithic zirconia restorations computed in this systematic review, there was only 1 reported failure of the monolithic zirconia restorative material over a follow-up period of up to 5 years, for a cumulative survival rate of 99.84%. At the maximum follow-up interval of 5 years, the cumulative survival rate for monolithic zirconia single crowns was 100% and the cumulative survival rate for monolithic zirconia fixed partial dentures was 99.60%. CONCLUSIONS: Implant-supported monolithic zirconia single crowns and fixed partial dentures have excellent short-term (<5 years) survival rates but the evidence for medium-term survival (>5 years) and beyond is lacking.

The Long-Range Biomimetic Covert Communication Method Mimicking Large Whale.

Short-range biomimetic covert communications have been developed using dolphin whistles for underwater acoustic covert communications. Due to a channel characteristics difference by range, the conventional short-range methods cannot be directly applied to long-range communications. To enable long-range biomimicking communication, overcoming the large multipath delay and a high degree of mimic (DoM) in the low-frequency band is required. This paper proposes a novel biomimetic communication method that preserves a low bit-error rate (BER) with a large DoM in the low-frequency band. For the transmission, the proposed method utilizes the time-dependent frequency change of the whistle, and its receiver obtains additional SNR gain from the multipath delay. Computer simulations and practical ocean experiments were executed to demonstrate that the BER performance of the proposed method is better than the conventional methods. For the DoM assessment, the novel machine learning-based method was utilized, and the result shows that the whistles generated by the proposed method were recognized as the actual whistle of the right humpback whale.

Biomimicking Covert Communication by Time-Frequency Shift Modulation for Increasing Mimicking and BER Performances.

Underwater acoustic (UWA) biomimicking communications have been developed for covert communications. For the UWA covert communications, it is difficult to achieve the bit error rate (BER) and the degree of mimic (DoM) performances at the same time. This paper proposes a biomimicking covert communication method to increase both BER and DoM (degree of mimic) performances based on the Time Frequency Shift Keying (TFSK). To increase DoM and BER performances, the orthogonality requirements of the time- and frequency-shifting units of the TFSK are theoretically derived, and the whistles are multiplied by the sequence with a large correlation. Two-step DoM assessments are also developed for the long-term whistle signals. Computer simulations and practical lake and ocean experiments demonstrate that the proposed method increases the DoM by 35% and attains a zero BER at -6 dB of Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).

Machine Learning Based Biomimetic Underwater Covert Acoustic Communication Method Using Dolphin Whistle Contours.

For underwater acoustic covert communications, biomimetic covert communications have been developed using dolphin whistles. The conventional biomimetic covert communication methods transmit slightly different signal patterns from real dolphin whistles, which results in a low degree of mimic (DoM). In this paper, we propose a novel biomimetic communication method that preserves the large DoM with a low bit error rate (BER). For the transmission, the proposed method utilizes the various contours of real dolphin whistles with the link information among consecutive whistles, and the proposed receiver uses machine learning based whistle detectors with the aid of the link information. Computer simulations and practical ocean experiments were executed to demonstrate the better BER performance of the proposed method. Ocean experiments demonstrate that the BER of the proposed method was 0.002, while the BER of the conventional Deep Neural Network (DNN) based detector showed 0.36.

Chirp-Based FHSS Receiver with Recursive Symbol Synchronization for Underwater Acoustic Communication.

In this paper, we propose a covert underwater acoustic communication method that is robust to fading using a chirp signal combined with a frequency-hopping spread spectrum scheme. A fractional Fourier transform, which estimates the slope of the signal frequency variation, is applied to the receiver to enable a robust and reliable symbol estimation with respect to the frequency and irregular phase variations. In addition, since the recursive symbol synchronization can be implemented using a chirp signal, compression and expansion effects due to the Doppler shift can be mitigated. Simulation and lake trials were performed to verify the performance of the proposed method. The simulation was performed by two different methods.